Segmentation and factors associated with the resilience of touristic SMEs: Results from Colombia

Abstract

Organizational resilience refers to the ability of organizations to sustain and recover from adversity. The Covid-19 pandemic was an unexpected event of enormous magnitude that affected the stability and continuity of many organizations around the world. The tourism sector was among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this sense and facing the Covid-19 pandemic, the objective of this study was to explore factors associated with greater resilience by the SMEs in the tourism sector in a destination of Colombia. The information used came from conducting 60 surveys directed to various SMEs, including adventure tourism service providers, overnight stay places and restaurants. In order to identify segments of touristic SMEs according to their resilience, a cluster analysis was carried out. Two segments of SMEs were found, one with greater resilience and another with less resilience. The incorporation of technology, the development of new products and the access to new market segments as actions to cope with the crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic are key factors that characterize the most resilient segment of touristic SMEs. Also, the size of the company and the gender and academic level of the managers are associated with resilience of the SMEs that took part in the study.